Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the final newsletter for 2024.

The last weeks of term 4 are always exciting ones, as we finalise report cards, send home student work and celebrate the great learning that has happened across the semester. Individual student information is also being shared across teachers and teacher aides in preparation for 2025 class groupings. 

Teachers, with support from our Head of Department Curriculum, have been busily planning the 2025 units of work and activities. The Administration and Leadership team have been forward planning for 2025 so we are ready to commence the year.

Our school improvement focus for 2025 will be on READING. Staff will engage in professional development throughout the year to increase their skills, knowledge and understanding of how best to teach READING to our students.

We have 14 new enrolments for 2024 and 9 of these are Preps! We have 3 new Year 7 students joining us in Secondary and 2 new students in our Primary sector. We are so excited to be welcoming so many new families to our school.

2025 Staffing

Kate Cloete our HOD-C has taken up a position at Palmview Special School for the rest of this year and all of Term 1 2025. Karen Abt, one of our Secondary teachers will take on the HOD-C role during this time. 

We have had 2 new teachers transferred into our school and I extend a very warm welcome to Alicia Hahn from Nursery Road Special school and Linda MacDonald transferring to us from Landsborough State School. We also have Amy Buick working with us next year – Amy has taught at a range of schools in Brisbane and the Territory.

Alicia will join our Early Years sector, and Amy and Linda will join our Secondary sector. All 3 new staff members have visited with us and spent time with their colleagues planning for 2025.

We sadly say farewell to a few staff at the end of this year.

Anne-Maree Clarke has been a teacher aide here at Gympie Special School for over 20 years. We thank Anne-Maree for her dedication to our students: she will be missed! She has seen many changes over her time here with us and is now moving into retirement. We wish her all the best for her future.

Emma McDade, one of fabulous teacher aides who has worked with us for over 11 years has been successful in gaining a transfer to Pine Rivers Special School and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours. Thank you, Emma, for your support to our students over your time here. It has been much appreciated.

Mr Gavin is also hanging up his marker pens and retiring – though he promises to come in and do some days for us when needed. Gavin has been here at the school for the past 5 years and will be greatly missed, as his jokes and ability to super-impose photos have kept us amused!

Congratulations and farewell also, to Janet Ernst who has completed her Teaching degree and is now moving on from working here as a teacher aide and commencing her teaching career in Hervey Bay. Janet has been instrumental in streamlining our library over the past few years, as well as supporting classrooms and students in her teacher aide role. We wish you all the best!

2025 January Student Free Days

This year staff have engaged in many hours of professional learning.  Teachers will start 2025 with 3 solid days of professional learning from Wednesday 21^st January to Friday 23^rd January, in the week before school resumes. We have a packed agenda for these days and anticipate a great year ahead. Teacher aides will join us from the Thursday.

The School Office

The office will be open from Monday 19^th January 202 to Friday 23^rd January 2025 for you to drop off any stationary packs, equipment or medication.

Medication

Please drop 2025’s medication into the office during the week before school and complete any paperwork required for your child’s medication. Any students on Medication will require new forms completed for 2025.

If your child has medication currently on campus, please collect this prior to Friday 13^th December.

Any left-over medication will be taken to a pharmacist for disposal on Monday 16^th December, 2024.

Celebrations

We celebrated some wonderful events over the past few weeks and still have our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony to come this Thursday.  This semester has seen the school celebrate the great learning taking place in classrooms, students demonstrating pride in their work and staff engaging in professional development activities to support student learning. There have been high levels of positive behaviours demonstrated by students and many have achieved significant personal successes in their learning. We have enjoyed a great PBL Rewards day at our local 10 Pin Bowling.

I am particularly thankful to parents and carers who have sought to share information about their child, visited classrooms, and attended events.  

Thank you

 I would like to thank students, staff, parents and carers for a wonderful year. Thank you to all of our families for the fantastic support you have given our school this year. The past few years have been continued to be challenging with a great deal of sickness and your support has been invaluable. Without your support, our work would be much harder. We greatly value our partnerships with families and the wider school community. Thank you!

A big thank you to our small, but dedicated P&C who have worked throughout the year to support our school and raise funds to support our school initiatives. The P&C will be renewing their drive in 2025 to seek more members and I would encourage everyone to consider becoming a member and joining in to ensure the best possible outcomes for our students.

NDIS support on Campus

The department is committed to improving outcomes for students with disability by delivering high-quality education supported by reasonable educational adjustments. The department recognises that NDIS supports may contribute to improving a student’s ability to access and participate in education and achieve. In some instances, parents may request that NDIS providers deliver supports included in their child’s NDIS Plans (NDIS supports) at school, during school time. The NDIS providers may be either engaged by the parent or NDIS plan managers.

As Principal, I will consider requests from parents for NDIS providers to access Gympie Special School in 2025, to deliver NDIS supports at school, during school time on a case-by-case basis. If you wish to request this, please collect the paperwork from Jess in our office or request it to be emailed to you. As the school grows though we are longer able to offer a dedicated space to external NDIS providers. These must be re- requested every calendar year.

Report Cards

Report Cards will be emailed at the end of this week. This email comes from OneSchool so please check your junk folder. Please let the office know on Monday if your child’s report card has not been received.

Families will receive a separate email detailing which class your child is in for 2025 and who their teacher and teacher aide will be.

Students have now have received their 2025 Booklists.  You can also find these attached to this newsletter, on our Facebook page or email admin@gympiespecs.eq.edu.au  to request a copy.

In addition, Nextra at Central Shopping Centre has copies of the booklists.

Please make sure you have purchased ALL items on the booklist and bring this equipment into school on your child’s first day. The school office will be open from Monday 19^th January 202 to Friday 23^rd January 2025 so you can drop your child’s booklist items off before the first day.

I would like to wish all of our families an enjoyable festive season, and a safe and refreshing summer Holiday break.

I am really looking forward to working with you next year and enjoying a fantastic 2025.

Best wishes

Sarah Lester

As we approach the end of the school year, it’s been a busy and exciting time at our school, with many activities and preparations for 2025.

As I write this, I am currently undertaking School Review Professional Development in order to ensure that we continue to grow and improve as educators. This will support me in enacting comprehensive school reviews and deep dive into the 9 domains of the School Improvement Tool. This in turn will help shape our goals and strategies moving forward with a student first focus.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in and supported our Colour Fun Run! It was a fun day incorporating our whole-school community. Thank you to our parents/carers that joined us and all the families who assisted with fundraising for our school. We fundraised a grand total of $2,760.99 and all prizes have now been sent home or collected.

With 2024 drawing to a close, preparations for 2025 are already underway. Our school has been busy creating class lists, finalising staffing arrangements, and organising rosters to ensure a smooth start to the new year. Additionally, student handovers will take place this week at our Tuesday staff meeting.

Over the past few weeks our teachers have been finalising assessments and report writing. It has been fantastic to read the growth of all of our students and celebrate in their learning.

As we near the end of the term, we’re preparing for some fun and engaging alternate activities in Week 11. It’s a great way for our students to unwind and celebrate their achievements before the holidays begin.

Finally, I would like to wish all of our students, staff, and families a well-deserved, restful holiday. Enjoy the break, recharge, and we look forward to welcoming you all back in 2025!

Phil Whatt

Deputy Principal

What a crazy busy end to term it has been! Teachers have been incredibly busy writing reports, finalising assessments and evidence and partaking in their Sector planning days ready for next year. Classrooms are still carrying on with teaching and learning to consolidate all new skills and reflect on the year that was. Transitions have been a very important part of Term 4 as well. Our new Prep students have joined us for three Tuesday mornings where they have visited the Early Years space in preparation and readiness for their first year of schooling. Some new Secondary students have also joined us on a few occasions to visit and learn about how we do school at GSS. We thank all school staff for the huge effort they have put in to ensure our students are safe and have continued routines and expectations as we reach the end of the school year.

Have a brilliant, safe and restful Christmas break and we will see you all in 2025 for another amazing year of learning!

• Monique

Early Years 1. Week 10, term 4

That time of the year has arrived all too quickly and it’s almost the end. What a rollercoaster of a year it has been too. The little Preppies have worked so hard this year learning how to do school and they have done so well. It’s difficult to remember now what it was like for them to be new at school at the beginning of the year. They are confident and happy learners who love coming to school each day.

The last few weeks have been busy- finishing our curriculum units, having the colour-run, the swimming carnival and the PBL bowling day. Everyone had so much fun and showed that they are safe and respectful learners at each event. We enjoyed having lots of parents there to cheer from the side and we thank you all for supporting the children. They love having you there watching.

We still have some time left at school and despite the heat and the rain, it promises to be a fun-filled end to the school year.

Kate and I wish to thank you for your support over the year and to say what a privilege it has been to be with your children each day as they started on their school journey.

Wishing a merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday to all our families.

Lynne and Kate.

All good things must come to an end. What a year it has been. We have worked so hard this year learning how to do school, making friends, following a routine and communicating thoughts, ideas and opinions. It has been heart-warming to see the progress and the confidence in each student and the happiness they show to be at school. 

The last few weeks we have been very busy finishing off curriculum units, having the colour-run, horse riding, the swimming carnival and the PBL bowling day. Everyone had so much fun and showed that they are safe and respectful learners at each event. I’m sure we will have some PRO bowlers among us in the future.

A big thankyou to all the parents who have helped out and cheered from the side and we thank you all for supporting the children. They love having you there watching.

I look forward to seeing everyone in the new year and everything it brings.

Wishing a merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday to all our families.

Erin and Kelsey

Team EY3

As I write this and reflect on the 5 weeks since our last newsletter, it is hard not to be a little sad that 2024 is drawing to a close and we are in the last few days of Year 1 together. Thankfully, there have been many moments of joy and even more to come with our 10 Pin Bowling PBL Rewards Day this week, and lots of shared time with other Early Years students as we come together in Week 11. 

After a few false starts, swimming lessons ended on a high last week with all participants demonstrating how far they have come, how much they have learned and how well they can be safe and follow directions in the water. All of the Early Years students who attended the Swimming Carnival were able to transfer their new skills to the unfamiliar swimming pool at Gympie State High School. I’m not sure that anyone actually won a race, but if prizes were given out for great attitudes, the most laughter or having a lot of fun, I think everyone would have walked away with a ribbon on the day. Our gratitude to Sports Coordinator, Miss Jennie, for organising such a great morning! We hope families will continue to take advantage of the wonderful facilities at Gympie Aquatic Centre to reinforce water safety over the summer break.

Last Wednesday also brought the final Riding for the Disabled (RDA) outing for the year. Another wonderful celebration of getting out and about in the supportive community we share here in Gympie. Not only did every student enjoy a final ride for the year, the incredible volunteers provided every child with a ribbon in their choice of colour and a huge bag of lollies to take home. Such generosity of spirit is appreciated and we look forward to riding again next year.

In amongst all of that, we celebrated our achievements with the whole school Annual Awards, attended weekly Parades, engaged with our friends for the First Nations play event and worked towards meeting our individual learning goals for this semester – phew!

We wish you a safe, supported summer break and look forward to welcoming you back to our very special school next year.

Miss Jodie, Miss Nairda and the EY3 Teaching and Learning Crew.

I cannot believe a whole school year has gone by already! Codie and I have loved teaching your amazing children and seeing the progress they have made.

This Semester I have been working hard with Gympie State High School (GSHS) to create joint school experiences for the students. The first event involved listening to a story and chatting on Proloquo2Go while making friends.

At the start of week 9 the Early Years students enjoyed the swimming carnival at Gympie State High School and having GSHS students to chat and play with in-between swimming. It was great to see the students’ taking turns and trying their best in the pool and the flourishing bond between the two schools.

Next was the PBL reward day at Gympie ten pin bowling. We were lucky to have the GSHS students joining us to help put the bowling balls on the ramps and chat to the students while they are waiting for their turn. Look for the photos on Facebook.

I hope you all have an amazing Summer break.

Trista and Codie

The PBL team were very excited to reward the students for their fantastic efforts to follow the school rules over the term. Last Monday each sector had a turn to catch the big Polley’s coach and go to the Gympie Bowling alley for a fun-filled hour of ten pin bowling. Everyone had a great time and had the opportunity to demonstrate being safe and respectful.

Thank you to all the members of the PBL team for your commitment and dedication to Positive Behaviour for Learning at Gympie Special School.

It feels like this year has raced by and this term went even faster. P1 has been working hard on assessment tasks and end of the year business, so we have still been very busy but have started to slow down and work on Christmas activites. We have also fit in lots of exciting activities like the swimming carnival, bowling and the Colour Fun Run. A big congratulations to the students in the class who raised enough money to earn prizes. New friends from Gympie State High School have also visited several times and come to help with lots of activites like shared reading, the swimming carnival and bowling.

We are excited to finally be engaging with some fun Christmas crafts, which we are all really excited about. Students picked the ones they wanted to try off the smart screen and we have loved making some sock snowmen, wooden decorations, beaded wreaths and plenty of felt art, some students even wanted to try sewing.

We are moving towards packing up the class room so expect workbooks and extra stationary from this year to start arriving home. We will send it slowly over a few days so their bags aren’t too heavy on one afternoon. We have had a great year and hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas.

Jo, Dale & Sarah

P2 Newsletter Term 4 Week 10

Term 4, Week 10, we made it, P2 students and teachers both!!! What a happy and wonderful year we’ve had.

Term 4 was a busy term. The Colour Fun Run, Primary Swimming Carnival, and Bowling our PBL Awards Day were great fun and enjoyed by all. Swimming at the pool with Coach Tim, Leonie and Adam was much enjoyed too and some students have improved beautifully.

Andrea and I are very proud of all the students in P2. They all have worked so hard and given it their best. We will surely miss them all, and will keep an eye out to follow their progress in 2025.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas time with family and friends. Safe travels to those who will be on the road. Thanks for all the help, support and conversations we had in 2024.

Rest well and see you next year.

Carina and Andrea

It’s the end of the year. It’s gone so fast! P3 has had a fantastic year with lots of learning and fun. We’ve had some new friends join us throughout the year.

We have finished all our hard work and are now enjoying Christmas activities. The pine cone Christmas trees were a hit as was making a dancing Santa.

Here are the highlights of this year from some of the students

Heath – Spending time with Miss Bree and Miss Jennie

Moni – Maths was my favourite

Haylie-Rose – The swimming carnival was my favourite part because my mum was there

Baxter – Playing ball games with my friends

Have a safe and happy holiday. See you next year, somewhere in the school.

Jennie & Bree

Hello to our P4 Parents and Carers,

Well, this is our final newsletter for 2024.

We have completed swimming with all participants increasing their water skills. Rose is putting her whole head under water and increasing her water confidence. Maddie, Arley and Koby are swimming half the length of the pool, and Chris is following rules to increase his ability.

As Term 4 closes we have had the wonderful opportunity to walk to Gympie State High School to conduct our swimming carnival in their pool. Lots of fun, and our students represented our school with pride. They were fantastic in and out of the water with some help from a number of Gympie State High School students. 

Okay, so we went 10 Pin Bowling and the gutters were down. Students played a game with their peers to show their brilliant bowling technique.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our parents, grandparents and families for allowing me the honour of teaching your wonderful learners. It has been an exciting, wonderous year.

Have a lovely holiday, see you in 2025.

P4 students, Darren, Josh and Deb.

S2 are having a lot of fun learning.  From creating in Science and Technology to competing with peers online using the Blooket program. It’s exciting to see the progress the students have made while we are assessing for reporting and gathering supporting evidence.   There are so many little positive steps that aren’t necessarily reported including increased independence, social emotional skills development, woodworking, and more.  We are counting down the days until the holidays but we will be missing everyone.  See you all again next year!

Andrew and Dale

S3 Newsletter

Wow! The end of the year is almost upon us! Over the past week, our Secondary classes have been embracing the festive spirit with a range of fun, rotational Christmas activities. Students enjoyed making clay decorations and soaps, each creating unique pieces that showcased their creativity and artistic flair.

On Monday, December 2nd, our Secondary cohort came together for Rewards Day, celebrating with a fun-filled bowling outing. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to relax, bond with friends from different classes, and reflect on their achievements throughout the semester. Their efforts to remain safe, respectful, and committed learners have truly paid off.

In addition to all the festive fun, many students have also had the chance to develop new skills and build lasting friendships, especially through activities like basketball. The past few weeks have been filled with valuable experiences, from learning new techniques on the court to connecting with others during transitions between classes.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all our students for their hard work and growth this year. As we look ahead to the new year, we wish everyone a smooth transition into their new classes, filled with even more learning and success.

Wishing all families a safe, joyful, and healthy holiday season and a wonderful New Year!

Warm regards,
Libby, Jas, Cody, Laila, Jaxson, Thomas, Riley, and Oden.

Newsletter Term 4   Week 10   S4 & S5

Dear Parents & Carers,

What a fun-filled term 4 we have had.  With our year 10’s finishing at the end of week 8, the remaining students in S4, have joined with the remaining students in S5.  It’s been lovely to see the students coping well with the change and increasing their friendship networks.  Basketball has been a standout activity throughout the semester. Students have shown remarkable growth in their confidence and skills, particularly in using regulation-sized basketballs, which are hard and heavy making them quite daunting to catch. Despite this challenge, many students have excelled, embracing the opportunity to perform drills with their peers and engage in games with increased ability and enthusiasm.  Our swimming carnival was a highlight of the semester. It went smoothly, and it was inspiring to see our students, now mature young adults, giving their best, following rules, staying safe, and being respectful of others. This positive attitude contributed to making the day enjoyable for all involved. The Colour Fun Run was also a huge success.  A special thank you to all those who generously donated money to the school—your support is greatly appreciated.  Alongside this, our Reward Day at the bowling alley was a huge success! It was a wonderful day of fun and celebration, and everyone—students and staff alike—had a fantastic time. As the school year comes to a close, we want to wish all our families a safe and peaceful summer break. We look forward to seeing our students return refreshed and ready to tackle another year of learning. Best wishes to all for a successful 2025, and we can’t wait to continue supporting each student’s growth in the coming year. Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community!

Andy, Chrissie & Michelle

Senior News

Our year 12’s had their graduation celebrations this term at the Senior Citizen Hall on Friday the 15^th November. Our students looked amazing in their suits and formal dresses and the night certainly was a night to remember. We also said farewell to our year 11’s at the end of week 8 and are very excited regarding the new year next year and the learning that we will be engaged in.

We would like to wish our students and families a wonderful Christmas and a safe holiday, we look forward to working with our students next year.

Senior staff

Kate, Liz, Monique, Kerri, Dana, Jane and Emma

Science Week 10

The Early Years classes were amazed to see the fizzy solution that resulted from mixing bi-carb soda with vinegar. The addition of food colouring created a delightful visual display. The students then created a craft collage by choosing paper cut outs to make their own cupcake picture.

Primary classes explored how to change the state of a material by heating, cooling or wetting it. They discovered that raw spaghetti is hard and rigid, but cooked spaghetti is soft and flexible. They enjoyed a craft activity using cooked spaghetti to make hair.

The secondary students made Magic Mud by combining cornflour and water. Not quite a solid, but also not really a liquid, the mixture had the characteristic of both a liquid and a solid, depending on how it was being squeezed between their fingers. Touching such a strange texture was quite challenging for some students.

Miss Elizabeth

Visual Arts

The end of term is here and the Primary and Secondary students have completed their assessment pieces. There have been some very interesting works of art produced. All students enjoyed the collage based activities and finished the term with their own imaginative work.

Early Years students have been enjoying a range of stories through art by choosing their favourite character and recreating it as a drawing and adding plenty of colour to their work.

Wishing you all a safe and fun Christmas break.

Thank you. Gavin.

For the last 5 weeks in technology, the students have been focusing on all things Christmas bringing joy into the classroom. We made some amazing Christmas craft that is based around Design Technology. The students have been having a blast and enjoying spreading Christmas cheer!

 Riane

During the weeks 7-9 The students have been learning about recycling.  They have completed activities that show them, how to recycle, which bins they need to put things in.  Learning which items can be recycled and which items cannot be recycled.     Reduce – Use less … buy less … avoid waste … turn off the lights … take shorter showers and carpool!  Reuse – Use things more than once … use cloth shopping bags … repair … regift … try travel mugs … compost!  Recycle – separate waste materials so that the recyclable products can be transformed into something new!  This was a poster we used in class and some classes would chant parts of it.  Another topic we covered was pollution, watching an engaging video and books for the students to realise what this does to the environment.

Debbie K

Communication Team News.

As we reflect on the work we've accomplished together this year, we want to thank each of you for your commitment to ensuring that every student has a voice.

The dedication and hard work in supporting the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in all environments—whether in the classroom, playground, or other out-of-classroom areas—is appreciated. By ensuring our students have the tools and support they need to communicate, we are not just providing them with a way to speak, but empowering them to connect, engage, and thrive.

It is because of the collaborative spirit between school and home that we are making such a meaningful impact. Together, we are creating an inclusive, supportive environment where every student is heard and valued.

Thank you to parents and staff for their ongoing efforts and for being such an essential part of this communication journey.

The Communication Team.